Quote Originally Posted by SlickNicaG69 View Post

However, the point you raise sheds light on the preventable descrepencies in the game that cause historical unbalance. The fact is that the typical gallic swordsman (such as the Southern or Northern) were quite under-equipped when compared to legionnaries in every sense. They had smaller, more brittle shields. They had pointless, heavy swords ideal only for slashing and quite unreliable (in Polybius' histories, he even describes during the Celtic War before the Hannibalic how Gallic swordsmen would be required to back off and straighten their swords with their legs! because sometimes the only way to be able to kill with such a sword was by sheer blunt trauma, not slashing or gashing.
...the archaeological evidence doesn't necessarily back this up though. There is a danger of reading too much into the hyperbole of Roman endorsed 'histories'....



Quote Originally Posted by SlickNicaG69 View Post
Also, keep in mind that certain technicalities of history, such as the fact that most barbarian armies primarily consisted of those lowly soldiers, should not be considered when attempting to set certain stat values... Just because the Gauls could never develop a socio-economic system where they would be able to afford the maintenance of a real professional army (Neitos)
I would swap the term "could never develop..." to "had not, at this time developed..."

Gaul, as an example, was at the time of Caesar's invasion at a crossroads. It could have been overrun by Germanic tribes (Ariovistus and the Suebi..), or - as with the reaction to Caesar's interference, they might have finally found the motivation to unite (against the threat of these invading Germanic tribes, and the encroachment of the Belgae from the north..) and a strong enough character(s) to do so (Vercingetorix, Ambiorix etc.)

Rome didn't begin with the socio-economic system that allowed them a standing army, it gained those evolving systems through internal/factional confrontations, and through charismatic personalities who perceived the best response to the dissent and implemented the necessary reforms. The Gauls (in particular) already were evolving their political-economic systems. So, it's not that the Gauls could never develop such a system, it is - rather - that they had not by the time Caesar took advantage of their factional in-fighting, to the benefit of Rome.